April 16 (Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp. plans to introduce software that puts videos on Web sites in a bid to win users from the market leader, Adobe Systems Inc.'s Flash.

The program, called Silverlight, will be used by companies such as NetFlix Inc. and Universal Music Group, said Forest Key, a director of product management at Microsoft. The technology will help them create video-intensive Web pages that will appear the same to users on almost any operating system they're running.

Microsoft is touting the program as cheaper and easier for Web developers to use than Flash, which is on 98 percent of the world's personal computers. The company, the world's largest software maker, expects the program to encourage designers to use more Microsoft tools when they work on sites, Key said.

``Flash is so ubiquitous, and it's to be determined how this stacks up,'' said Chris Howard, an analyst at market research firm the Burton Group, based in Midvale, Utah. The program should succeed at attracting Web site developers and designers accustomed to Microsoft's tools, and probably won't displace Flash, he said.

Silverlight helps companies create video-intensive Web pages that show up the same way on Windows, Apple Inc.'s Macintosh operating system, Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser, Apple's Safari browser and Mozilla's Firefox.

Microsoft is showing the software to attendees at the National Association of Broadcasters conference in Las Vegas today. The company will release a test version at its Mix conference for Web developers this month.

Shares of Microsoft rose 12 cents to $28.73 as of 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading. Adobe rose 76 cents to $42.40.

Adobe's Response

Silverlight is the latest Microsoft salvo aimed at Adobe. Microsoft also offers an alternative to Adobe's PDF technology for storing and viewing documents and is rolling out a new line of Expression tools for designers.

This week Adobe plans to introduce some new technologies to render encoding Flash videos cheaper, Michele Turner, vice president of Adobe's platform business unit, said in an interview. The San Jose, California-based company obtained Flash in 2005 in its $3.4 billion purchase of Macromedia Inc.

``The explosion of media on the Web is not happening as fast as it could because Flash isn't as good as it should be,'' Key said.

There aren't enough Web site designers familiar with Flash, which is complex to learn, said Key, who worked for Macromedia before joining Microsoft three years ago. Encoding video and distributing it for play with Silverlight will save companies money, he said without elaborating.

``Developing for Flash is dead-on cheap,'' Turner said. ``We feel like we're way ahead today.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Dina Bass in Seattle at dbass2@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: April 16, 2007 16:43 EDT